Implications of border impacts and climate change for Sonoran pronghorn recovery | NPS NOIP16AC00269

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP16AC00269

The funding opportunity titled "Implications of border impacts and climate change for Sonoran pronghorn recovery" (Funding Opportunity Number NPS NOIP16AC00269) is a National Park Service (NPS) discretionary funding action focused on natural resources conservation, specifically research and recovery efforts for the Sonoran pronghorn. The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the NPS expects to be substantially involved in the project beyond simply providing funds, which is common when the work requires ongoing coordination, shared responsibilities, or close alignment with federal land management priorities.

This notice is not an open call for proposals and is explicitly not a request for applications. Instead, it is a notice of intent to make a noncompetitive, single-source award to the University of Arizona. The announcement cites the Department of the Interior's 505 Departmental Manual 2.12C as the policy basis for using a noncompetitive approach, indicating that the agency has determined there is a justified reason to direct the work to a specific institution rather than running a competitive process. The work will be issued as a task agreement under the National Park Service Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), which is a cooperative network used by federal agencies to partner with universities and other organizations on research, technical assistance, and applied conservation projects in the Desert Southwest.

From the title and context, the project is intended to examine how border-related impacts and climate change influence the recovery prospects of the Sonoran pronghorn, an animal closely associated with desert ecosystems of the U.S.-Mexico border region. "Border impacts" can encompass a range of stressors relevant to wildlife recovery, including habitat fragmentation, barriers to movement, disturbance associated with border infrastructure and enforcement activity, and changes in access to resources. Climate change adds additional pressures in desert systems, such as rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, prolonged drought, and shifts in vegetation and water availability. Taken together, these factors can affect pronghorn survival, reproduction, movement corridors, and the suitability of habitat needed for long-term recovery, which is why an applied research and management-oriented study under NPS oversight fits naturally within a CESU cooperative agreement.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed under CFDA number 15.945 and categorizes eligible applicants as "Others," but that eligibility is largely academic here because the award is already designated for a single recipient. The expected number of awards is one, consistent with the single-source intent. The posting lists an original closing date of 2016-03-09, which in this context functions more like an administrative timeline for the notice rather than a deadline for applicants, since applications are not being solicited. The award ceiling is listed as 0, which typically indicates the specific funding amount is not provided in the public synopsis or will be defined in the associated task agreement documentation rather than in the announcement itself. The opportunity was created on 2016-02-29 and is issued by the National Park Service.

In practical terms, the key takeaway is that this is a targeted, pre-identified federal assistance action meant to formalize a research partnership with the University of Arizona through the Desert Southwest CESU. The goal is to support NPS and broader recovery efforts by improving understanding of how border-area stressors and climate-driven changes affect Sonoran pronghorn recovery planning and management in the region.

• The National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Implications of border impacts and climate change for Sonoran pronghorn recovery" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-02-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-03-09. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for NPS NOIP16AC00269

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